What It's Like to Be an Indian American Actress Trying to Make It in TV

Rati Gupta moved to L.A. to be a dancer—"a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, that was the dream," she says—but soon got hooked on acting and comedy. Now she does everything from stand-up to podcasting to starring in short films—and, like most other actors in Hollywood, she's trying to break into TV. I talked with Gupta about how being Indian American plays into that quest.

MA: For anyone trying to make it in Hollywood, getting representation is a huge part of the battle. How did you get your agent?

RG: Luckily, I started looking for an agent in 2009, right after Slumdog Millionaire won an Oscar. I didn't plan it that way, but everyone was looking to get in on the Indian action. Every meeting I had, people always mentioned Slumdog. So I ended up riding the coattails of that movie.

MA: Let's talk about what that "Indian action" means. From your perspective, when producers want an Indian actress, what kind of person are they looking for?

RG: The TV stereotype of the Indian woman is very different from my personal image—submissive, quiet. Indian women are seen in American culture as these exotic beauty queens. I'm short and funny. So the strategy for my career has been to not go for traditional Indian roles—to go for more black-girl roles, kind of.

MA: Meaning...

RG: The best-friend roles, the comedic-relief roles—I was a hip-hop dancer, and I have that sassy-urban kind of thing, so to speak. You know, I have a cousin who's a doctor, and she once said to me, "I totally see you as the best friend on a sitcom." She doesn't know anything about how Hollywood works, but even she saw, yeah, that's where you fit in. Not as the lead.

MA: The implication being: the lead is going to the white girl.

RG: Yeah. Here's how it works for me during pilot season [Editor's note: This is the time of year when networks cast their new shows]. The first wave of auditions goes to your A-list stars. The second wave goes to established actresses who have top agents, or who have been guest-starring for a long time. I'm the third wave. I'm what I like to call special teams. The networks call us in when they realize they don't have any minorities in their cast, so they want an ethnic choice. Any minority. They don't care.

MA: One thing I notice about Indian and Indian American characters on TV is that they almost always have a thick accent. You don't have an accent. Do you often have to put one on for auditions?

RG: I have gone in for every Indian female role they have had on The Big Bang Theory. They always want an accent, and my Indian accent is horrible, to be honest. I can't even impersonate my parents. I mean, I would love to work on that show. But I also know myself, and I'm not the type of Indian girl they're looking for—the girls who have gotten those parts look more Indian than me or are from India. It makes sense, but it can be frustrating. I had a director for a movie once ask me to do an accent, and I said no—I'm not going to lie and say I can do it. He was so confused when he heard that my parents have one—he was like, "That's interesting that you didn't pick it up." I was insulted that he found it so hard to believe that a child of immigrant parents could have perfect-accent English.

MA: By his logic, literally all Americans should be walking around with accents. You mention girls "looking more Indian than you." Are there things about your appearance that you feel like prevent you from booking Indian character parts?

RG: I used to have blondish brown highlights, and my hair is wavy. But jet-black works better for Indian roles, and I always straighten my hair if I'm going in for them.

MA: What sort of stereotypes are you totally over when it comes to Indian characters?

RG: There's the cliche that the Indian is always the smart, nerdy, awkward one—never the popular girl. I like to think of myself as a cool person, so I really have to make myself look awkward when I go in for these nerdy roles.

MA: Which actresses on TV right now give you hope for progress?

RG: Tiya Sircar (Witches of East End, The Crazy Ones) has done a lot of different roles, not just Indian-specific ones. Also Hannah Simone on New Girl. Her role could have gone to any attractive girl in Hollywood, but she got it. Granted, they took her Indian-ness and ran with it—they had the wedding—but it's not a part of her daily language on the show. Mindy Kaling is showing that Indian women can be more bold and brazen—we didn't see any of that on TV five years ago. But now, when I walk into an audition room and I'm outspoken and perky, people aren't confused. Which is nice.

Follow Rati on Twitter here. Our interview with her is running in conjunction with "Call Me Back, Hollywood"—a story in our October issue, on sale now, about African American actresses trying to make it in TV. Click here for the first interview in our online companion series, "What It's Like to Be an Asian American Actress Trying to Make It in TV," and check back for the third and final part, "What It's Like to Be a Latina Actress Trying to Make It in TV."